MINNEAPOLIS — Senior Nicole Schammel netted a pair of goals, including the game-winner, as Minnesota used a stifling defense to advance to the WCHA Final Faceoff final with a 4-1 victory over Minnesota-Duluth.
“I’m really happy with the way our team played tonight,” coach Brad Frost said. “They were on the puck and taking away time and space. Getting a few past Maddie Rooney is a difficult task, but the team stuck with it and kept doing what we wanted them to do.”
Schammel used her hands to get to the middle, delayed, and picked the top corner to put the Gophers (30-4-1) ahead 6:08 into the middle period.
“I was actually looking to pass right away, and I saw their ‘D’ cheat over to [Taylor] Wente, so I tried to change the angle on Rooney,” Schammel said
The Bulldogs were held to nine shots over the 60 minutes.
“We had our moments, throughout the course of the game,” UMD (15-16-4) coach Maura Crowell said. “Here and there, we gained some momentum, but obviously had a hard time finding the net. [Rooney] kept us in that game. The Gophers are a very good team, and they earned that win today.”
Rooney finished with 40 saves, while Alex Gulstene turned away eight shots to earn the win.
Grace Zumwinkle drilled a one-timer on a power play to increase the lead to 3-1 just over four minutes before the second intermission, and Schammel put the game away when she hit an empty net from deep in her defensive zone with 2:29 remaining.
“Kelly [Pannek] and I like to practice shooting them all the way down the ice,” she said. “You never expect to get a shot like that in a game, but it’s fun to practice it.”
The Bulldogs had only one shot on goal in the opening frame, but Gabbie Hughes made sure that it also went into the goal to give her team a 1-0 lead at 7:20 when Maggie Flaherty got her the puck.
“It was mostly just getting the puck on net,” Hughes said. “I had [Anna Klein] coming down on the far side, so even if I had hit it off the far pad, she would have gotten it. I was just trying to get a shot on net, and it ended up going five-hole.”
Pannek answered five minutes later, taking a Sarah Potomak pass from behind the net and beating Rooney upstairs. Pannek said her team wanted to answer before the end of the period, one in which it ultimately outshot the Bulldogs by a 17-1 margin.
“The game is still tied, but we also did just get 17 shots and had a great period, so let’s keep it going,” Pannek said.
The Gophers will attempt to defend their league playoff title on Sunday at 2:07 p.m. CDT in Ridder Arena against the winner of the second semifinal between Ohio State and Wisconsin.
